Barnes & Noble's Nook business seems to be on life support.
The company reported on Wednesday that the Nook division saw sales drop 50.4 percent in the fiscal third quarter ended January 25, from $316 million last year to $156.9 million this time around. Despite the revenue drop, however, the Nook business saw an improvement in its earnings, jumping 67.5 percent from a loss of $190.4 million in last year's fiscal quarter to a $61.8 million loss during its most recent period.
The chief culprit in the Nook decline was hardware itself. The tablets and e-readers could only muster $100 million in sales during the period, dropping 58.2 percent compared to the prior year. Digital content sales were down 26.5 percent.
Looking ahead, Barnes & Noble says that it needs to make more decisions on reducing expenses. The company indicated that it reduced staff levels in the Nook business just after the quarter ended and that "these ongoing efforts may involve additional actions."
Barnes & Noble's Nook business, however, wasn't alone in disappointing its executives. Every part of the company's operation, including retail and college, were down during the period. The company's revenue dropped by 10.3 percent to $2 billion. Its earnings, however, jumped 191.3 percent to $173.1 million.
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